


Cinderella

by Innibis



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Pilots, frakked-up fairy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:59:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innibis/pseuds/Innibis
Summary: A very, very, VERY loose, modern, vulgar Cinderella framework on pilots.





	1. Once Upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

> Putting the blame squarely on recent conversations with other old school shippers that made me want to possibly start writing again after 72 years off, but in the meantime I'm moving stuff over from LJ. For posterity I guess? It was a miracle I remembered that account’s password. . .
> 
> Thanks, as always to the charming workerbee73 who can turn rags into ball gowns without breaking a nail.

The first time Kara Thrace met Zak Adama was for his viper check ride. It had been made very clear to her by her superiors that this was the son of the legendary Husker, brother of the hero-in-the-making Apollo. She had wondered at the necessity of the reminder until seven minutes into the flight when she turned off his gyroscope in a simulated failure. He was too slow. A half second behind every correction and the rest of the flight only confirmed it. He was a decent stick with an excellent head on his shoulders, but he just could not react fast enough to keep up with the viper. So she failed him and recommended him for the raptor track, something she knew he would be good at and told him so to try to ease his disappointment.   
  
"A man's only a man when he wears the wings of a viper pilot," Zak said dully.  
  
Kara cuffed him, "Don't be stupid, Nugget," she said gruffly. "Who do you think it is that saves the jocks' asses when we screw up and need to be rescued? I won’t go up without a good raptor pilot in the air." Zak had nodded, still looking heart broken, saluted, and walked away.  
  
Kara heard about it from her XO, from her CO and from her CO's CO, so when Lt. Adama, having taken a few days shore leave from his battlestar, stuck his head in her office, she was expecting a fight.   
  
"Lt. Thrace?' he asked. She nodded warily. He stuck out his hand and grasped hers before she had decided whether to shake his or not. "I'm Lee Adama," he said. "I just wanted to thank you for failing Zak." Kara stared at him, uncomprehending. "I know that there was probably a lot of pressure on you because of who my father is, but we both know that you saved his life, and I will never forget that."  
  
Kara found herself smiling at the practically pornographically handsome man in front of her, enjoying the flare of heat in his eyes. "So you're the great Apollo," she said.  
  
An answering grin spread over his face, "And you're the incomparable Starbuck."   
  
They went out for drinks twice during his leave period. No pressure meet-ups that left the frenetic Starbuck relaxed and the serious Apollo smiling. By the end of their first ambrosia together, after they had argued about whether or not the designated shooter in pyramid ruined the purity of the game, and after Kara had decided to ignore the urge to slide her hand up Lee's thigh in favor of hearing what he thought about the court's ruling on eminent domain that had knocked down houses to build the brand new stadium, Starbuck and Apollo were friends. They kept in loose communication over the next year as she finished her instructor tour, and then Kara had received orders to the _Galactica_.   
  
" _Galactica_?" Lee asked, his voice tinny over the satellite phone. "Frak, that's a waste."  
  
"Isn’t your old man up there?" Kara asked.  
  
Lee snorted, "Yeah, last I heard. The fleet tucked him away where he and his drunk court jester Tigh couldn’t do any more damage."  
  
"Oh thanks, Lee," Kara said. "You're making me feel _great_ about this assignment."  
  
"Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "It's being decommissioned in what, eighteen months? You won’t be there long. Dad may be a menace, but he has seriously powerful friends and he appreciates talent. Once he sees you fly, he'll hook you up for your next command."  
  
"What about you? Still determined to get out?" Kara asked.  
  
"I've re-thought it," Lee said, ignoring her exaggerated sigh on the other end of the line. "I'll let the military pay for law school and become a JAG. I've got less than two years left flying here; plenty of time to apply for the program."   
  
"My own personal JAG," Kara laughed. "I should have encouraged you to give up flying a long time ago."  
  
"Yes, well, not until I was fully aware of your ability to get into trouble did my dream solidify to be your get-out-of-jail free card." Kara could hear his smile through the phone.  
  
She saw Lee only once while she was stationed on _Galactica_ and she was equal parts annoyed and amused when she found herself thrown in the brig by Tigh the day Lee was scheduled to arrive. She sat on the bench and propped her feet up on the rack and waited for Apollo to find her.  
  
"I haven’t even started law school yet!" Lee said with mock exasperation.  
  
Kara bounced up and strode to the bars that separated them. "Gods, you were not kidding when you said that Tigh is a clown."  
  
"He been giving you a hard time?" Lee asked, the smile was still on his face, but his tone was serious. Kara felt warmth spread through her at his concern.  
  
"Nothing I can’t handle," she answered, wrapping her hands around the bars.  
  
"We both know there's nothing you can’t handle, Kara," Lee said closing his hands gently over hers. "Doesn't mean that you should have to deal with Tigh being a bullying prick."  
  
A marine guard strode into the room. "Captain Adama," she said, saluting sharply. Lee squeezed Kara's hands briefly before turning and returning the guard’s salute. "Colonel Tigh says that it's time to go to your viper for the fly over, sir."  
  
"I have to go," Lee said regretfully. "If Dad actually talks to me for any length of time, I'll see if I can get him to let you out, if not, I'll be by before I leave."  
  
Kara nodded. "Good flying, Apollo" she said.   
  
Two weeks later, Kara reported for a five-year shore tour in Delphi with a special operations unit. It was a gem of an assignment—flying, covert ops, rescue missions, hostage negotiations, anything and everything. She even had a built-in friend since Lee was going to be starting law school there shortly. The drawback was that Commader Adama's affections ran contrary to Kara's, and she found herself saddled with Colonel Tigh and two of her least favorite _Galactica_ pilots, Racetrack and Kat.  
  
"Gods," Kara groaned to Lee, sprawled out on his couch, watching as he steadily unpacked boxes in his new apartment. "Tigh's out to get me. I know it. He's giving Kat all the good flying, Racetrack all the covert ops, and has me working aircraft and equipment maintenance. I'm covered in grease morning to night and barely able to log enough hours to keep me current."  
  
Lee paused in his efforts. "Tigh isn’t the unit commander, why don't you go up the chain?"  
  
"I don’t want to make waves," Kara said, squirming under his disbelieving eyes. " _What_? It's a new assignment. I'm trying to stay out of trouble so I can visit this bar you're opening with your brother."   
  
"Suit yourself," Lee said disapprovingly.  
  
"Lee," Kara said with annoyance, "stop frakking judging me. You and I work differently."  
  
Lee nodded and sat on the couch by her hip and rested a hand on her stomach. "I just don’t want you getting short-changed is all."  
  
"Noted," Kara said, briefly running her fingers over his wrist. "Now back to more important things, like the club and all the free drinking I'm going to do there."  
  
The Ball opened the summer between Lee's second and third years of school, two years after Kara had been stationed on Caprica and practically the minute Zak resigned his commission.   
  
"Is that—" Kara started to ask as she met Lee at the door, not deigning to wait in line for the bar's opening.   
  
"Yeah," Lee grinned, looking to the left of the club's entrance where a series of vertical lights had been mounted to the wall "The landing system from the _Galactica_. I called in a few favors and had Zak whine to Dad. Ready to see the place?"  
  
Kara nudged his shoulder. "Say it."  
  
Lee rolled his eyes. "Confirm three down and locked, call the ball,"  
  
Kara cackled. "Roger, three down and locked. I have the ball," she said, and linked her arm through his as they entered the club. It was one of those minimalist places, Kara noted, modern and sleek with an open two-storied layout. The walls were gleaming silver and the ceiling entirely glass so she could see the stars. There were several bars, long and narrow and black. Lee pulled her to the bar in the center of the room where Zak Adama was looking well and truly content.   
  
She felt a tug of apprehension, having not seen him since she failed his check ride, but she plastered on her bravado and grinned widely. "Looking good, Nugget."  
  
"Hey Thrace," Zak said affably, shocking Kara by leaning over the bar and planting a noisy kiss on her cheek.   
  
"Nice place you and Apollo've got," she said, watching with interest as Zak lined up three shots of Picon whiskey. The brothers grinned with pride in unison and Kara shook her head at the resemblance. Zak motioned for her to take a glass as he and Lee grabbed the others.  
  
"To Joseph Adama, who left his money to his worthy grandchildren," Zak said and they drank. More shots appeared.  
  
"To Zak Adama, a hell of a raptor pilot who served the worlds and will now serve ambrosia," Lee saluted. More shots.  
  
"To Mom and Dad, who surely would have drunk us out of liquor by midnight had they decided to be supportive for once and show up," Zak grinned and tossed back the whiskey.  
  
Kara laughed her way through toast after toast, each becoming more ridiculous than the next. She was listing on her stool, but that was okay, because Lee was there to hold her up and Zak was there to pour the booze and, gods she couldn’t remember having ever been this happy in her life. So before Zak or Lee could jump in to drink to whatever the frak, she wrapped her arm around Lee's waist and raised her glass, "To new clubs, and Adama boys and friends and viper pilots and lawyers and—and," she faltered, thinking about what else she wanted to say, how she wanted to say it.  
  
Lee tapped his glass against hers. "To all of them."  
  
Zak leaned over the bar and put his glass against theirs. "To us."


	2. If the Glass Slipper Fits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clap if you believe in workerbee73s.

****

"Thrace!" Tigh's bellow bounced through the hangar.  
  
Kara rolled out from under the viper she was fixing and stared up balefully. "Sir?"  
  
"I told you about that tone," Tigh was weaving down the deck. "I also told you to have that bird flying yesterday before you left."  
  
"Yes, sir," Kara gritted, standing up to face him. "You also told me to fix five other birds, all yesterday afternoon. Those five are repaired and I’ll be done with this one in an hour."  
  
"No you won't," Tigh said triumphantly. "You disobeyed a direct order and then fed me excuses. Kat! Racetrack!" They popped up behind his shoulder. "Escort Captain Thrace to the brig. Again."  
  
"I know how to get there," Kara said.  
  
"We do love taking you though," Kat sneered, and Kara found herself being frog marched to the base brig.   
  
The Marine barely glanced up, "Shall I call Captain Adama for you, sir?'  
  
Kara nodded and then sat down to wait for Lee to come get her.  
  
"Well this seems familiar," there was no smile in his voice and Kara felt a quick surge of dread that Lee might be getting tired of coming to her rescue—it had been three times this month alone—but she tamped it down. He was her friend.   
  
"Get the charges dropped yet?' she asked tiredly. Kara was exhausted. She had slept underneath the viper last night. As tempted as she had been to just work through and finish the job, she knew that sloppy, sleepy hands could lead to mistakes that might kill someone. She felt disgusting and in need of a shower and a bed.  
  
"Yeah," Lee said as the guard opened the door. He walked into the cell and pulled her to her feet. "I wish you'd let me do more to help you," he said. "You look so worn out."  
  
Kara pulled her filthy hand away from Lee's crisp, clean uniform. "I'm fine," she said shortly. "Just have to work through it."  
  
"Well at the very least, go home." Lee insisted. "Tigh never checks the logs to find out when you get out. As far as he's concerned, you aren’t coming in until tomorrow."  
  
Kara nodded, her eyes closing, nearly asleep on her feet. She felt Lee's hand on her elbow. "I'll drive you," he said. She began to protest, but he pushed past her words even as he pulled her out the door. "I have to be on base early tomorrow to prep for a court martial. I'll pick you up on the way in."  
  
"Alright," Kara said dully.  
  
"No argument? Now I really know you're tired," Lee said as they climbed into his car. The short drive to Kara's apartment was quiet and she let herself drift. When they pulled up in front of her place, Lee leaned over and unfastened her seatbelt. "Get a shower, get some food, go to bed.” he instructed and pressed his lips firmly against her forehead. She blinked at him in surprise. "I'll be by at 0600."  
  
"'Kay," Kara said. "Night Lee."  
  
The sun was still firmly hanging in the sky, but Lee bade her good-night anyway. Kara climbed the steps to her apartment and let herself in, glancing down at the parking lot before she closed the door. Lee was still sitting there watching her. So she waved to him and then locked herself into the cool dark of her home.  
  


* * *

  
  
Kat strutted down the flight line to her bird and climbed in. The instructor in Kara made her walk over to the viper and say, "No pre-flight, Kat?"  
  
Kat sneered at Kara, "I just kick the tires and light the fires, Starbuck. I'll leave the dirty work to you grease monkeys."  
  
"That's alright," Kara said. "We both know that the only way you can beat me in the sky is to keep me on the ground." Kat glowered.

"Hey," Kara shrugged, "you've earned it. You and Racetrack should get something for blowing Tigh."  
  
"Frak you, Thrace, I got here on ability," Kat snarled.   
  
"Sure Kat. A stim junkie like you is all about honing her skills," Kara said and sauntered away. She half expected Kat to jump out of the jet and tackle her, but the unit commander was on the line and Kat was skating on thin ice as it was with her reckless flying and big mouth.   
  
Kara was stopped short by that thought for a moment. She shook her head and laughed out loud. She'd have to tell Lee later that she had come face to face with the devil on her left shoulder and could maybe see his point about restraint. She was pulled out of her uncharacteristic bout of self-reflection.  
  
"Captain Thrace," the unit commander approached her.  
  
"Sir," Kara acknowledged. "May I help you with something?"  
  
"There's a big rescue going on. All hands on deck. Grab your gear and get to Racetrack's bird."  
  
"Yes, sir," Kara raced to her locker. Even the fact that she was going to have to be in an enclosed space with Racetrack didn’t dampen her excitement for being included in a high priority op. She was practically giddy at the thought that the people beyond Tigh were finally going to see her at her best. It was the opportunity she had been waiting for.  
  


* * *

  
  
" _The C-bucs_?" Kara said incredulously, "We're mounting a unit wide rescue for a pyramid team that lost its way?"  
  
"It's good publicity, Starbuck," the Marine next to her answered, "Makes us look less menacing and more like keepers of the peace."  
  
"I guess," Kara muttered, then suddenly brightened. "We may get some good tickets out of this; they actually made the finals this year."  
  
"Cut the chatter, Thrace," Racetrack snarled from the pilot's seat.  
  
"Afraid you'll botch your landing if you can’t concentrate?" Kara shot back, but she shut her mouth. The pyramid team had left for a few hours of high altitude training Wednesday morning and, as of Friday afternoon, hadn’t been heard from. This was particularly galling because the last game of the Colony Cup was being held Saturday night. Kara's fire team was getting dropped off at the C-bucs last known position and continuing on foot from there.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Where's your wingman?" Zak shouted above the noise of The Ball. Since it was a Friday, Lee was helping out behind the bar.   
  
"My who?" Lee asked, pouring out four shots of ambrosia, feigning ignorance.  
  
Zak rolled his eyes, "Where's Kara? When she's not in the brig, she's here." He worked the register quickly, putting cash in the drawer with great satisfaction.  
  
"She's off to rescue the C-bucs," Lee said, flashing his best, please-tip-me smile at the lovely young brunette at the bar as he handed her a glass of chianti. With his black tee-shirt and faded blue jeans, he often got numbers slipped to him along with the extra cash.  
  
"No shit, they let our girl go," Zak said, pausing to gulp water. "That's great."  
  
"Yeah, I'm really happy for her.” He turned from taking an order to find Zak looking at him speculatively. "What?”  
  
"Helo!" Zak shouted into his headphone, and the recently discharged ECO and newly hired manager popped out of the crowd.  
  
"Yeah Zak?" he grinned widely. "Hey, Lee didn’t see you get here."  
  
"Hey Karl," Lee smiled.  
  
"Can you handle this on your own for about ten minutes? I need to go beat some sense into my brother." Zak said.  
  
Helo hopped over the bar. "Good luck, man," he said to Zak, correcting himself quickly but with twinkling eyes as he intercepted Lee's scowl. "I mean, yeah, no problem."  
  
Lee and Zak walked out from behind the bar and onto the balcony. The nights were still fairly cold, so they were largely alone. "Lee," Zak started. "You have known Thrace for what, about five years?" Lee nodded warily. Zak continued cautiously. "Don’t you think it’s time you asked her out already?"  
  
"Kara's my friend—" Lee began.  
  
"Yeah, she's your best friend, other than me. So what? You two _look_ at each other and the temperature in the room raises about twenty degrees." Lee remained silent, staring out at the lights of the city. "You can’t frak this up, Lee," Zak said gently. "You're too important to each other. Try it. Ask her out. If it doesn’t work, who cares? Don’t tell me you aren't adult enough to be friends anyway."  
  
"I just—" Lee shook his head.  
  
Zak stepped in front of his field of vision. "I have two courtside tickets to the final pyramid match since we're hosting the C-bucs' after game party, provided your girlfriend rescues them of course. Ask her to the game and then come here after. Not like anything you two don’t normally do, just—I don’t know—make it official or something."  
  
Lee took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay."  
  


* * *

  
Sam Anders was one good-looking man in person, even when unconscious. Kara smoothed her hand over his hair speculatively as Racetrack visibly seethed from the pilot's seat. "You aren’t as good as your stats read," Kara said conversationally to Anders. "You have some excellent players always backing you up. It makes you better than you really are." His eyelids began to flutter. "Hey," Kara said. "You waking up Sammy?"  
  
"Don't call me Sammy," the voice was weak, but at least it was a response. His eyes, if a bit unfocused, were looking right at her. "Hey beautiful, thanks for rescuing me," he said before falling back into unconsciousness. Kara smiled with pleasure. She was called many things, but beautiful wasn't one of them.  
  
When they landed back on base, and it had been determined that a night at the hospital re-hydrating would allow them all to play the big game the next day, the team owners presented the unit with tickets to the game. Kara saw it as her chance to officially meet Anders and let him show his gratitude properly.   
  
A water bottle hit her between her shoulder blades, startling her enough to make her stumble. "What the frak?" she yelled, whirling to face Racetrack who was standing with Kat. "Did you throw that?"   
  
"Have fun molesting the pyramid player while I did all the work, Thrace?" Racetrack demanded.  
  
"Yeah, because you were so helpful pulling them up from the side of the cliff. Aphroditie's left tit, Racetrack, who taught you how to fly? You almost killed them twice," Kara answered dismissively. It's a good thing the corporal and I know how to conduct mountain ops or that team would still be up there waiting for you to learn how to hover in atmospheric flight."  
  
In retrospect, Kara should have seen it for the set-up it was, but once Kat landed a punch to her gut at the same time Racetrack kicked her upper thigh, she just started swinging at both of them. Of course, Tigh found them. Broke them up, and brought Kara to the brig himself, denying her the ability to call her lawyer.   
  
"Get you out in time for you to go to that game? Not on your life, Thrace," he drawled with malicious pleasure. "But Racetrack and Kat and I will be sure to have a good time. Maybe the girls can even get Anders to invite them to that after party."  
  
"Yeah," Kara snorted, "Good luck getting Lee to let any of you into his club." It was a mistake to taunt him. She knew that. She didn’t have the upper hand in the situation, but Kara was sick and tired of being Tigh's whipping girl. Without the old man to shame him into sobriety, Saul Tigh was a walking disaster waiting to happen and Kara was only sorry that she hadn’t let Lee take him out with his legal ninja tricks earlier. "You're pathetic," she snarled from behind her bars. "You're a drunk who can’t lead your way out of a paper bag, so you punish me for being everything you never could because you didn't have the frakking self control to put down the bottle."  
  
Tigh lunged at her. "Hit me," Kara taunted. "You know you want to. Stop hiding behind your call girls and hit me."  
  
She watched as Tigh went from shaking rage to calm condescension in about two seconds flat. She had to hand it to the bastard, he could frakking play the game like a champ when he wanted to. "Nice try, Thrace," he said, turned his back and walked out the door.  
  
Kara slumped down on a bench and waited for the guard to come in so she could annoy him into letting her call Lee.  
  


* * *

  
The rescue was all over the news, as were the statements from team officials that the game would go on and that Caprica was more ready then ever to defeat Picon in the deciding match that evening.   
  
Lee tried not to feel anxious about Kara, but the fourth time she hadn't picked up the phone coincided with Tigh's smug face on T.V., no doubt over-stating his part in the mission. Lee jumped to his feet. It was Saturday evening, the game was in two hours and not only had he _not_ asked the object of his affection out, he hadn't heard from his best friend all weekend either. He pulled on his favorite pair of jeans, the ones that never failed to leave Kara staring at his ass when he wore them, slid into a red button down and practically ran out the door.  
  
When he arrived at the brig, the Marine was shocked to see him. "Where is Captain Thrace?" Lee asked, flashing his ID.  
  
"Uh, second cell on the left, sir," the guard stammered.   
  
"Why was she not given access to representation?" Lee asked.   
  
"Colonel Tigh ordered—"  
  
"Do you know what an illegal order is, Marine?" Lee asked coldly. "You are obligated not to follow orders that are contrary to the UCMJ and the Articles of the Colonies. If I ever hear about you denying the people incarcerated here their rights again, I will bust you down to private so fast your head will be spinning. Understood?"  
  
The Marine stood at attention and barked, "Sir, yes, sir!"  
  
"At ease Corporal," Lee said. "And if you are ever ordered to violate the rights of the accused again, you call me." Lee handed him his card. "I will be taking Captain Thrace with me."  
  
Lee marched into the cell block. "Kara, I don’t care what you say this time, Tigh needs to be stopped and I'm going to stop him."  
  
Kara shot up from her prone position on the rack. She was still in full fatigues and caked on dirt. "Lee! How did you know I was here?"  
  
"Where else would Starbuck be?" He teased, lips twitching as he watched her eyes run down his body.   
  
"Funny, Apollo. Can you get me out of here?"  
  
"Guard!" Lee shouted, and the Marine ran from the office to open her cell.  
  
"What did you do to him?" she asked.  
  
"Nothing he didn’t deserve," Lee said. "Now Kara, I know this is last minute and not exactly the right place or time, but I have two tickets to the game tonight and—"  
  
Kara's eyes lit up and she let out a whoop. "Lee Adama, I swear you are just too good to be true sometimes. I have to get to that game. Tigh gave my ticket to Kat, who wasn't even on the mission." She waggled her eyebrows. "After the rescue, I think Sam Anders needs an opportunity to express his personal appreciation for my saving his lovely ass."  
  
Lee's heart dropped. Apparently, so did his face because Kara's brow furrowed in concern and she reached out to take his hand, but Lee stepped out of her reach and for the first time in their friendship, he faked it entirely. "Well you can’t go looking like that," he said, mockingly eyeing her filthy uniform. "We don’t have time to go all the way to your place and still make it to the game on time. Take a quick shower in the pilot locker room and we'll stop by The Glass Slipper on the way to the game."  
  
" _Dee's_ place?" Kara asked, as she hurried to keep up with him. "You want me to shop at Dee's? She broke up with you because of me."  
  
"Not everything is about you, Starbuck," Lee said sharply, even though Kara was perfectly correct. Dee had been less than impressed by her boyfriend's desire to spend all of his meager free time with another woman or his brother. "Hurry up. I don’t want to be late."  
  
"Wait," Kara grabbed Lee's arm and when it appeared like he was going to keep on walking, she swung him around bodily to face her. "Stop. What's wrong?"  
  
Lee sighed. "Nothing," he lied. "Nothing. I'm just pissed off at Tigh and that enormous party is at That Ball tonight." He gently tugged her sweaty pony tail. "Let's get you cleaned up and then we can go to the game and the club and have a good time. Alright?"  
  
Kara nodded, her eyes searching his. "We don't have to, you know. If things are crazy at the club, then we can just go there and help Zak set up. I really don't mind."  
  
Lee smiled genuinely. "You are a good friend Kara Thrace."  
  
Kara smiled back. "You are too, Lee Adama." She squeezed his fingers briefly and hurried to the showers. Lee watched her jog away from him.  
  


* * *

  
Kara watched as Dee glared at Lee. He just folded his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at her. "Dee, we can certainly take our business elsewhere, I was just under the impression that when you said that you wanted to remain friends, you meant it."  
  
Kara winced in sympathy. She knew exactly how it felt to have Lee hold her words against her, and it wasn't fun. She had nothing against Anastasia Dualla, really. Dee was a smart, shrewd businesswoman who had excellent taste in men. Kara just would never quite be able to forgive Dee for trying to convince Lee to spend less time with her. Truth be told, she never liked any of Lee's girlfriends, and she was honest enough to understand that there was a certain amount of jealousy in that.   
  
In all things that really, truly counted, Lee belonged to her like he belonged to no other woman in the world and Kara would fight tooth and nail to maintain that place in his heart. And if that meant not jumping the boy's bones, then by gods, that was what she was going to do, even if he was wearing those jeans. Kara closed her eyes and thought of Sam Anders. _Anders_ , she repeated to herself. Caprica's most eligible bachelor who knew nothing about her, who had never had to rescue her from a jail cell or hold her hair when she puked and who had never listened in shattered silence with eyes more full of love and sympathy than she possibly deserved as she talked about her mother.  
  
She watched as Dee's shoulders slumped and held out her hand to the small, lovely woman approaching her. "Hi Dee," Kara said. She could afford to be nice.  
  
"Hey Kara," Dee ran a professional eye appraisingly over her. "You have a great rack, let's work with that." Kara looked over Dee's head to Lee in panic. The bastard just laughed at her with his eyes and leered at her breasts.   
  
"Ah, just jeans and a tee-shirt will be plenty, thanks," Kara said backing away.  
  
"Oh no," Dee smiled good-naturedly. "We can do a little better than that."  
  
"Quickly, Dee," Lee said. "You can torture her but only very quickly."  
  
"Traitor!" Kara yelled over her shoulder as Dee shuffled her into a dressing room, but Lee grinned at her with such affection that Kara couldn't help but grin back.  
  


* * *

  
  
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad, she got us out of there in twenty minutes, and you look great." Lee pulled Kara toward the stadium through the enormous crowd with three minutes to spare before the start of the game. "Thank you Lee, for rescuing me and dressing me and bringing me to the game, I don’t know what I’d do without you," he continued in an exaggerated falsetto that was so utterly unlike him that Kara burst out into surprised, gleeful laughter.  
  
"You are beyond insane," she choked out, eyes dancing. "Are you positive that I don’t look ridiculous? It's a pyramid game, for the love of the gods."   
  
Lee stopped and ran his eyes down her body, over the low-cut vee neck of her dark blue shirt to her low slung, form fitting white pants to her toes bared by sandals and back up again to meet her gaze. "You're gorgeous," he said seriously, tilting his head as he slid the backs of his fingers along her jaw line. Kara took a sharp breath in at the want on his face. She could have stayed there forever, trapped in the flow of humanity, standing firm against the current of bodies with Lee's eyes on her like she was all that mattered and his hand on her like she was precious to him. Then he blinked and dropped his hand, smiling self-mockingly as he stared at the ground. "One minute to tip off," he said. "Kick in the burn, Starbuck, we're going to be late."  
  


* * *

  
Naturally, the Bucs won, and naturally Anders threw in the winning goal, and naturally, his eyes had met Kara's during his on-court celebration and he had recognized her and had run over and spontaneously, theatrically dipped her and kissed her as the crowd roared. _Naturally_.   
  
Lee was going to stab somebody in the eye with a fork very, very soon.   
  
Kara wriggled, laughing, out of Sam's embrace long enough to introduce herself formally, and then Lee. Lee found himself feeling rather insulted that Anders didn’t consider him a threat, no appraising looks, just a genuine, pleased-to-meet you smile. "Hey!" Anders said enthusiastically. "I'm taking Kara to The Ball now, it's going to be a wicked after party. You should come too."   
  
Kara laughed from where she was nestled under Sam's big arm, "Sammy, you are talking to the owner of The Ball. He's the one who can get us in, not the other way around."  
  
"Co-owner," Lee mumbled, but he was already being subjected to another of Anders' wide, friendly smiles.  
  
"That's awesome, man. Your place is great."  
  
"Thank you," said Lee, trying to get a hold of himself because his ridiculous notion that Kara might want to be more than friends was hardly Anders' fault. "And great game, Sam. Congratulations." He looked over at Kara but didn’t meet her eyes. "I'll see you over there, alright?" and he walked away.  
  
"Lee," he felt a hand catch his arm, and it was Kara, bright and glowing. "Do you want me to come with you? I can just meet Sam there if you need help."  
  
"Nah," Lee said, smiling, "Stay here, have fun." He motioned over to where Kat and Racetrack were making their determined way to Anders. "Bask in your triumph."  
  
"Okay," Kara nodded. "See you in a few." She spun on her heel and went back to Anders.  
  
Lee tried not to feel rejected. After all, he had never really asked the question.  
  


* * *

  
  
"So let me get this straight," Zak said. "You spring her from prison, dress her up and bring her to the game to meet Anders?"   
  
Lee nodded.   
  
Zak sighed. "I hate to break it to you, man, but you aren't the prince in this situation, you’re the frakking fairy godmother, and the fairy godmother never gets laid."  
  
Lee stared at Zak for a full five seconds before thumping his forehead down on the bar in front of him. "How do I get myself into these things?"  
  
Zak slung an arm around his brother. "Everyone has a skill." Lee glared up at him. "If it makes you feel any better, Thrace looks like she's being bored to tears."  
  
Lee raised his head to see Kara across the bar with Anders. His fingers were curled in the chain of her dogtags and he was speaking ardently, his eyes glassy with alcohol-infused sincerity. Kara's brows were incredulously raised and her eyes were bouncing all over the room until they met Lee's. He raised his glass in salute and tilted his head. She rolled her eyes and shook her head faintly, the left side of her mouth curling up. Her smile was abruptly replaced by a scowl when Anders jerked on her dogtags to add emphasis to whatever point he was making and she returned her attention to the pyramid star.  
  
"Well, well …" Zak said, his arm tightening briefly around his brother's shoulders before dropping. "Looks like the fairy godmother might get his chance after all."  
  
Lee downed the rest of the ambrosia and motioned for another to the bartender. "Maybe he will," he muttered, watching as Kara's eyes slid over to meet his again.   
  


* * *

  
  
"It's like—it's like physics, you know? The perfect angle, the perfect throw. E = mc^2."  
  
"I'm sorry," Kara interrupted, "What's like E=mc^2?" Sam Anders was adorable, sincere, sweet, athletic, totally into her, and pretty well confused on basic science.  
  
"You know," Sam smiled drunkenly, pulling on her dog tags again, "mass. Acceleration. Force!"  
  
"No," Kara said, not sure why she was bothering to argue, but it was just the _principle_ of the thing. "That's F=ma. Force is equal to the mass of an object multiplied by its acceleration, that's a law of motion. E=mc^2 is about mass - energy equivalence. It isn't the same thing at all."  
  
Sam blinked at her. "It's the perfection I'm after, Kara. _Per-fec-tion_ ," he annunciated every syllable and stared at her with such adoration, that Kara thought he might be looking at her as the fulfillment of his quest. Gods it was all right there in front of her. The clean slate of Sam was a heady thing to contemplate, not even the military baggage to worry about because he had never been in the service. "That's what I strive for. I don’t care about all this," he waved his free hand vaguely at the party around them, "or the fans. I don’t do it for the trophies or the team. . . "  
  
Kara found herself drifting from the conversation about what Sam didn’t care about and found her eyes locking with Lee's. He was staring at her from across the bar with his brother's arm around him. It was an inexplicably appealing image, the Adama boys with their forthright smiles and steely spines taking stock of their little empire. He toasted her and she responded to his cocked head with a shake of her own, unable to stop her lips from twisting up as she rolled her eyes, until Sam yanked on her dogtags again. "Perfection!" he crowed, kissing her nose.  
  
"Got it Sam," she said sneaking another glance at Lee who was still watching her. "Perfection."  
  


* * *

  
  
It was hours later, all but the club staff and a couple of drunk C-bucs were left. Kara considered the evening to be in every way a triumph. Down to the very last detail where Sam hadn't remembered Racetrack, and Kat and Racetrack were left to languish in line outside of The Ball. From the moment Sam had seen her and kissed her in front of everyone at the game she had been floating on the cloud of his elevated perception. She didn’t even care that she wasn't exactly the person he thought she was, because she _could_ be. There were things that he didn't need to know and it was easy enough to keep her own secrets and Lee wouldn't ever tell a soul.  
  
Kara frowned. She hadn't talked to Lee since leaving the game, having been wrapped up in Anders all night—his attention, arms, mouth, and words. She had seen Lee looking at her a few times even though he had made no move to approach her. She had also noticed that Zak's usually generous mouth had tightened into a straight line as the night wore on. She wondered if the stress of such a big event had kept Lee from her side and Zak from his smiles.  
  
"Sam," she nudged him from where he had been on the verge of passing out against her shoulder, still grasping her dogtags. "Sammy, I'm going to go find Lee."  
  
"Lee?" Sam mumbled, "Who’s Lee?"  
  
Kara was unaccountably annoyed. "Lee. My friend. The one who owns the bar."   
  
"Oh yeah," Sam yawned. He tilted harder and harder into her until both of their stools were tipped over and the chain with her dogtags broke from her neck in his hand.  
  
"Damn it Sam," Kara half hissed, half giggled as she struggled to get out from under him. He was dead weight, and Kara realized that he had passed out. She extricated herself and snatched her dogtags from him, stuffing them in her pocket. She laughed at the faint smile still on his face and leaned down and kissed his forehead, promising herself that this was one clean slate she wasn't going to break. Then she wandered off to find Lee.  
  


* * *

  
  
Lee looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Kara," he greeted her as he leaned on the railing of the balcony and looked out into the quiet dark of pre-dawn.  
  
"Haven't seen much of you tonight," Kara said, bumping his shoulder with hers.   
  
"You managed to have a good time anyway," Lee said.   
  
"I did," she grinned. "It was like something out of someone else's life. Did you have fun?"  
  
"Yeah," Lee said, "It was fine. Busy."  
  
"Why didn't you sit with us at all?" Kara asked.  
  
"You seemed otherwise occupied," Lee said. "I didn’t want to get in your way."  
  
"Well I would have sent you a signal if I needed you to clear out," she teased. "Since when do you wait for an invitation to talk to me?"  
  
Lee shrugged. "Where's Anders now?"   
  
Kara gestured back over her shoulder. "He passed out. I saw his teammates carrying him away." Lee stared. "What?" she asked. "The man was passed out on the floor. What the hell was I going to do with him?"  
  
Lee turned to look straight at Kara, watching the moonlight play off her pale skin, turning her blonde hair silver. "Is this what you want, Kara? A pyramid jock?"  
  
"How is that different than a viper jock?" she asked. "What's the matter, Lee, jealous?"  
  
Lee did not want to remember this as the moment he lied to Kara, so he inhaled deeply and took both of her hands in his. "I am," he said honestly. "I watched you tonight, laughing and talking and smiling and it was awful, because I couldn’t just be happy for you. That doesn't make me much of a friend, does it?"  
  
Kara's eyes were serious as she replied, "You are the best friend I have ever had. Don’t doubt that."  
  
He paused for a long moment. "I doubt myself, Kara. I doubt that I can stand by and watch you fall in love with someone else with a smile on my face. Watch someone else become more important to you than I am. I don’t know if I can pretend that watching you kissing someone else doesn't rip my heart out. And that is so unworthy of our friendship." Lee dropped her hands and turned back to stare blindly over the city. "If you give me time, I can work through it though. I promise. Just—not tonight, okay?"  
  
Lee closed his eyes, concentrating on the chill in the night breeze, thinking briefly that Kara must be cold in her flimsy shirt. He felt her arms slide around his middle and her head rest against his shoulder before she pressed fully against his back. Her lips brushed against the nape of his neck and she ran her hands down his arms and laced their fingers together on the rail.   
  
"There is no one who is more important than you." He felt her words, warm against his ear.   
  
Lee's breath was ragged. His knuckles white from gripping so hard. Kara mouthed her way up his neck and over his ear where she bit down deliberately on his lobe. It was if a switch had gone off and he had to touch her, all of her, right then or he would fly apart. He wrenched his hands off the railing and spun to face her, taking half a second to see the sincerity in her eyes before he crushed her body against his and slanted his mouth over her full lips.  
  
Kara let out a soft, muffled noise as Lee slid his tongue past her lips and teeth and stroked the tip of it along the roof of her mouth. He felt her moving her hands restlessly over him, gripping his shoulders, his hair, his hips, pulling at his shirt to slide up his bare back and bump her knuckles down his spine. Lee tugged at the hem of her shirt and she raised her arms immediately to let him pull it off, breaking their desperate kiss briefly before settling his mouth more fully on hers. He filled his hands with the weight of her breasts.  
  
There was nothing about her that wasn't intoxicating and he breathed her in, gasping against her lips, greedy to be surrounded by nothing but Kara. He moved his mouth down her neck, and over her shoulder, lifting her arm to allow him to trail his tongue down to her elbow. He wanted to taste every part of her. She was his. She was his and he wasn't going to let her forget it.  
  


* * *

  
  
Kara was drowning, her head thrown back as Lee sank his teeth into her wrist. She scrambled with one hand to undo the buttons of his shirt, but by then he had released her arm and pushed down the cups of her bra, bending his neck to allow him to pull a nipple sharply into his fever-hot mouth. Sucking and scraping with his teeth and making small desperate sounds in the back of his throat, Kara nearly forgot her own mission, made simpler by free hands. She peeled the shirt off his body and pulled his head from her chest so that she could see the naked gleam of him. Her breath caught at his beauty as he stood before her, panting for her, all for her.  
  
Kara yanked the back of his neck hard, forcing him to open his mouth to her. She felt him fumbling and she guided his hand to the side zipper, gasping as he yanked it down without ceremony and divested her of pants and underwear. He was mumbling something against her mouth, so she pulled back to hear him. "What?" she breathed, even her heart shivered at the heat in his gaze.   
  
"Want to fly, Starbuck?" he asked, wrapping his hands around her waist and lifting her so that she sat on the railing. It was cold against her bare skin, but she wrapped both hands around the rail and hooked her feet, still in strappy silver sandals, under the bottom rung, anchoring herself and nodded to him. Lee slid her legs apart even further then dropped to his knees. He got a firm grip on her thighs and, with no hesitation, licked into her body in one long stroke.  
  
Kara let out a choked shout and leaned back so that all she could feel around her was air and Lee's hands on her thighs and his mouth at her core. He was relentless and deliberate and fierce and so much—too much—and it wasn't long before she was arching her back even further, opening her eyes for an unobstructed view of the stars. As she came, she offered her pleasure up to the gods in the form of his name on her lips.  
  


* * *

  
  
His name still ringing in his ears, Lee freed himself from his jeans and brought himself off quickly with his own hand, the other still tightly gripping her leg, and his face pressed against her inner thigh. All he could smell, hear, taste, touch, feel—it was all Kara.  
  
As he came back down, he stood and pulled her off the railing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist in a full body hug before allowing her feet to slide to the floor. She lifted her head and stared into his face before kissing him, slow and deep. Lee groaned into her mouth, knowing that she was tasting herself on his tongue.  
  
It was late, and the cold was beginning to seep into their bones. Lee glanced over his shoulder to see that the lights had been turned off, at least on the top floor of the club. He took her hand, stooping to pick up their clothes as they went and brought her inside. He lay down on a long, low leather couch and she climbed directly on top of him, tucking her head under his chin. He had just enough presence of mind to spread his shirt over her bare back before they slept.   
  


* * *

  
  
Kara drifted awake, sighing into a warm chest, feeling arms firmly around her. Cuddling wasn't normally her thing, but she was a little too comfortable and to be overly concerned about it. It took Kara about five minutes of floaty consciousness to remember that she hadn’t gone home with Sam Anders. Her eyes snapped open. She hadn’t even found some random guy and brought him home. Instead, she had decided to jump her best friend and was currently sprawled on his chest in the middle of his club with only a draped shirt covering her naked ass. She froze, not wanting to wake Lee up.   
  
Fortunately, Lee slept like a pilot, deeply with a disinclination to wake up until he had his regulation eight hours. So Kara carefully reached behind her and unwrapped one arm and then the other before slowly sliding off him. She stumbled to her feet, incredulous to find herself still wearing her sandals, and quickly pulled on her clothes that had been dropped in a heap next to the couch.   
  
Only then did Kara turn to look at Lee, bare chested, jeans unzipped, dead to the world. She fought the urge to climb back on and slide her tongue into his open fly, but she shook her head sharply, feeling the slight clang of a faint hang over. They had been drunk. He had been jealous that she wasn't paying him any attention. He had said—   
  
Again, Kara shook her head. There was no way. She and Lee had been friends for what felt like forever and he had never pushed the envelope past flirting and heated gazes and shivery brushes of skin. This was not what he wanted. Not what Kara wanted either, she assured herself. Nothing was worth the loss of their easy camaraderie.   
  
She closed her eyes at a flash of Lee's tongue sliding into the center of her body, as she was surrounded by nothing but the freedom of the sky. It was perfect. It was a terrible mistake. _Gods_ , what had they done?   
  
Lee grounded her. Anchored her. Was home to her. And with any luck he wouldn’t remember a thing—just think it was all a dream or something. Kara hesitated and then leaned down to lightly kiss Lee's shoulder before tip-toeing down the stairs.  
  
"Kara!" the bright voice made her wince.  
  
"Hey, Zak. Great party."   
  
He looked at her appraisingly. "Seen my brother anywhere?"  
  
"Yeah," she said. "He's uh—he's upstairs."   
  
Zak's eyebrows rose.   
  
"Sleeping."   
  
His eyebrows rose higher.   
  
"Anyway,” Kara quickly continued. “I have to go I have an—exercise this afternoon that I have to get ready for." She hesitated. "Tell Lee I'll call him tonight, okay?" Kara ran out of the club, ignoring Zak's startled expression.  
  
It was only after she had settled into the backseat of the cab that she pulled her dogtags out of her pocket to fix the chain and realized that she was missing one.  
  


* * *

  
  
Lee was not immediately alarmed to wake up alone. He had woken up alone nearly his entire life. Sadly, Zak held the record of most consecutive days spent in Lee Adama's bed, and that was when he had been seven and their dad had deployed at the same time that their mother had checked into rehab for the first time, leaving Ellen Tigh to baby-sit for two solid months. Still, he had remembered going to sleep with Kara tucked firmly against him and he missed the warmth.   
  
He stretched, wincing at the pops and soreness in his spine. Sleeping on a narrow couch was not good for his back. He'd have to talk Kara into a bed next time. His lips turned up in a dreamy half smile, thinking of soft skin and shaggy blonde hair spread across his pillow. It was definitely too early to ask her to move in, but he figured that he could convince her to sleep over a few times a week. Definitely on weekends.   
  
Lee swung his legs around, sitting up to see that not only was Kara gone, but so were her clothes. He shook off the slight sense of foreboding and quickly zipped up his jeans and pulled on his shirt, not bothering to button it as he headed down the stairs.   
  
Zak was there, clipboard in hand and brow furrowed as he poked at the cash register and muttered under his breath. "Hey," Lee called out as he descended.  
  
"Hey there, Leland," Zak drawled out, pointedly taking in Lee's appearance. "Have a good night?"  
  
Lee stretched his arms over his head and arched back a little, enjoying the pull. His face felt like it might crack, he was smiling so wide. "Have you seen her? Is she in the bathroom or something?"  
  
"She… left," Zak said cautiously.  
  
"What?" Lee froze.  
  
"She said that she had a thing this afternoon but that she'd call you tonight."  
  
"A thing?" Lee asked.  
  
"Exercise. Whatever," Zak flapped his hand.   
  
Lee began to button his shirt. "She's going to brood about this if I let her," he said. He caught Zak's rather cross perusal of the mess around them. "I'll be right back, okay?" Lee said. "An hour tops. I just need to make sure she has her head on straight." Zak watched Lee sprint out the door. Then he shook his head and went back to the number crunching.   
  


* * *

  
  
When the doorbell rang, Kara was relieved. She never should have left like that. She also should have known that Lee would follow her and not let something like an ill-advised one night stand, no matter how bone-melting, stand between them. Hair still wet from her shower and dressed in nothing but running shorts and a sports bra, she pulled the door open with a wry smile on her face.  
  
"Missing something?"   
  
It was Sam Anders. He slouched against the door frame, his smile disarming, holding out a single dogtag. Kara gaped at him and Sam took a proprietary step forward. He slid his fingers against her collar bone and ran them up and around to the catch at the back of her neck and smartly pulled the chain apart before lacing it through her previously missing tag. He refastened the ends and her tags clanked together between her breasts. Sam wrenched his eyes away from her chest. "Perfect fit," he said.  
  
"How did you find me?" Kara's head was pounding, her senses rippling from the thought that Sam Anders had made an effort to find her.   
  
Sam shrugged. “You’re in the phonebook Kara, and I had your full name right here," he smiled flicking her tags. "Do I get anything for my trouble?"  
  
Kara hesitated, remembering Lee's kisses, his assertions, the way he had whispered her name against her lips, ear, elbow, thigh. But she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Risking what they had, a five year friendship over some drunken encounter? It just wasn’t worth it. Lee was a friend. A hot friend. A hot friend who gave good head. He was too important, _they_ were too important, for her to frak it up with sex.   
  
She took a long look at Sam standing there on her doorstep. Beautiful, available, wanting her, and with no shared history to get in the way. She flashed him her best smile, wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss.  
  


* * *

  
_No frakking way_.  
  
Lee fought for breath in the parking lot, watching Kara's lip lock with the pyramid jock, choking on all the things he wanted to say and scream and cry and just—gods she didn’t seem to care that she had marked him with her teeth and grasping fingers and panted words mere hours ago. The betrayal rose up in him to turn the overwhelming jagged hurt into sharp anger. _Frak her_. Couldn’t even wait to roll off him and into the jock's arms. Lee had been stupid. So frakking blind to the truth that Kara didn’t want him. Had been happy to use him in the absence of her pyramid prince.  
  
And still he watched. Riveted, as Sam's hands dug into Kara's hips and her lips moved against his. Watched as they broke apart smiling and Kara rubbed her nose against Sam's, standing tall on her toes to do so. Watched as her eyes slid over and caught his. Watched as they widened in dismayed shock. Watched as she stepped back from Sam and reached a hand towards him. Watched as her mouth opened, lips shaping his name as he got back into his car and slammed the door shut. And then he couldn’t watch anymore because he was driving away.  
  
"What happened?" asked Zak, aghast, as Lee stumbled into the club, pulled the top off the nearest bottle of liquor and swallowed once, twice, three times.   
  
Lee swung around to face his brother, raising the bottle in bitter salute. "And they lived happily ever after."


	3. The Other Glass Slipper Drops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> workerbee73! workerbee73! She's our (wo)man! If she can’t beta it no one can!

It had been five months. Five months without going to The Ball, without laughing with Zak. Five months of parties with Sam, her picture in the papers, of an uncomplicated and even keeled relationship with laughs and good sex. Five months without going to the brig.

Colonel Tigh had been discharged from the military. Ostensibly, he had retired, but Kara knew, everyone knew, that it had been Lee Adama’s doing. All those times that Kara had told him that Tigh had been drunk on duty, all the abuses of power and inappropriate conduct—Lee had recorded every one. She could almost see it in his illegible scrawl, every detail meticulously written down in his ever-present notebook. _Dereliction of Duty. Conduct Unbecoming an Officer. Drunk and Disorderly_. Rather than leave in disgrace without pension, Lee had offered his father's dearest friend the opportunity to go quietly and Saul Tigh had taken it.

In Kara's bleaker moments, she wondered if Lee had done it to make sure that she never called him again. Most of the time though, it was yet another example of him taking care of business. Taking care of her. Gods, she missed him. She still could see his destroyed, pale face looking up at her from her parking lot if she thought about him too long. What a frakking mess of a misjudgment. She should have followed him. Should have raced back to the club and fixed things. Should have at least called him. At the time she had simply assumed that he didn’t want to see her, hear from her, so she didn't do anything. She had told herself he'd call when he wanted to. Told herself she'd give it a day, a week, a month. He never came to her and she never went to him and now they were so broken by the silence that Kara didn’t know how to put the pieces back together.

She needed Lee's advice though and didn’t trust anyone else to give it to her straight. Her orders were up soon, and Sam had asked her to get out of the military and stay with him. The idea of no longer being in the fleet was not as appalling as it once would have been, bur Kara found herself resenting the fact that Sam had asked her to stay, despite the reasonableness of his request. She was up for a three year battlestar tour. She loved to fly but didn't really love the life anymore. She would miss the privacy of her own space and Sam's constant and pleasant presence.

She would miss Lee.

She stared out the windshield of her car at the Adamas' club. It was still a little early and a Tuesday night, so there wasn't a line to get in. It wouldn’t be easy, but she needed her friend back. Her life was simply less without him in it. Kara Thrace loved Lee Adama, whatever that meant. She could still feel the heat of his kiss when she wasn't careful, could still see the challenge in his eyes for her to be better, something more, still hear the devotion in his voice. Sam was easy smiles and sunny days and buzzed, giggling kisses after happy hour. Lee was whispered confessions of life-long shame, a safety net when she flew too high. He was another jagged soul and, somehow, when they twined the broken bits of themselves around each other, it was just enough to form one decent sort of person.

Kara was many things. A coward was not one of them. She resolutely climbed out of her car, sailed past the bouncers who waved in surprised welcome and went into The Ball.   


* * *

"Captain Thrace." The chilly words sounded in her ears. Kara raised her eyes from their rapt contemplation of the bar.

"Zak," Kara said. "Hey. How's it going?"

"Fine, thank you," Zak answered. "What can I get you?" 

"Is Lee here?" she blurted out.

Zak's face shifted from polite disdain to stone. "I'm sorry, my brother is not on the menu tonight. May I interest you in ambrosia or Caprican Ale?"

"I really want to talk to him," Kara said. "Look, I appreciate the whole protective brother thing, but Lee can take care of himself."

"Why don't you talk to me?" Zak invited with false cheer, planting his forearms on the bar and leaning into it. "Why don’t you tell me how my brother had stars in his eyes one minute and looked like he had been kicked in the gut the next?"

"None of your business, Adama," Kara said softly, with edge, nervousness having given way to irritation.

"Everything about Lee is my business," Zak said, all pleasant pretense gone. "We only have each other. We've only ever had each other."

"Must be nice to have someone," Kara said. "I wouldn’t know. I've always had to make it on my own—"

"You had Lee!" Zak shouted and the crowd at the bar stilled for a moment before resuming respective conversations. "You had Lee," Zak said more quietly.

"I know," Kara said, all anger draining away as suddenly as it had come. "I just—" She started as a hand covered hers and she looked up into Zak Adama's kind brown eyes.

"My brother is a stubborn pain in the ass, especially when he's been hurt," Zak began, "but I also happen to know that when he loves you, he'll forgive you anything. It just takes time."

"I know, but—wait, _what_?" Kara asked.

Zak pulled his hand back, panic flickering in his face. "I, uh, said that Lee will forgive you when he's ready—"

"You said he loves me," Kara said.

"I didn't," Zak said moving quickly toward the other end of the bar.

"Lee Adama loves me," Kara called, lighter than she had felt in days, months really.

"You're dreaming it," Zak shot over his shoulder, turning to serve the couple in front of him.

She was still smiling when he came back to her, eyes serious. "Look," Zak said quietly. "I told him that if he made a move and you weren't interested, it wouldn’t ruin your friendship because you mean too much to each other. But I forgot what stubborn, nervous frakkers you two are. How are you doing, Kara?"

She blinked at the sudden question. "Sam's a great guy."

Zak nodded. "He seems to be, but that isn't what I asked." She looked warily at him. "Just something that you should think about." He stared directly at her until she nodded her understanding. "Lee's outside changing a few bulbs on the balcony. Upstairs is closed right now, so no one's out there but him."   


* * *

"Son of a bitch!" Lee swore as the tiny bulb slipped from his fingers. Helo or Zak should have done this in the daylight, but Lee suspected that they were trying to keep him away from the paying customers. He had been somewhat less than pleasant lately. He paused in his efforts. This had to stop. Kara didn’t love him. So what? "Enough," Lee said out loud and went back to changing the bulbs on the little white lights that ran around the balcony.

"Need some help?" His heart stopped at the softly spoken words. He braced himself and saw Kara standing uncertainly in the doorway.

"Nah," Lee said over the sound of blood rushing through his ears as he straightened too quickly. "It isn't going to be crowded enough for us to open the balcony tonight so I'll leave it for Zak to take care of in the morning."

He watched Kara approach him slowly. "Lee," she stated his name as if affirming his presence. "I'm sorry. I should have called, I just—didn’t know what to say."

"Why are you here Kara?" Lee asked warily.

Kara stopped about ten feet away from him. "I needed some advice from a friend," she said.

"What can I possibly give you that Anders can't?" Lee snapped. He winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

Kara snarled. "Just forget it, Lee. Sorry I bothered you." She turned on her heel.

Lee moved quickly, catching her arm. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He tightened his fingers on her skin slightly before letting her go. "Don’t leave," he said softly.

Kara whirled suddenly and threw her arms around his neck and he hauled her in close. They leaned against each other, holding each other up, and Lee felt the tension flee his body in the close presence of Kara. And, gods, he just didn't care any more. Life was just grey without her.

Kara pulled back so she could look into his eyes and he smiled at her earnest expression. "Are we okay?"

"Yeah," Lee said, leaning his forehead against hers. "We are just fine." Kara sighed her relief into his face. "You needed some advice?" She nodded and stepped away from him.

"I'm up for new orders in a couple of months," she said. They were both studiously avoiding standing at the railing.

"It’s been five years already?" Lee asked. "That went by fast." He had wasted time by not talking to Kara, by not making the first move back to her and now she was getting ready to leave again.

Kara nodded, "I'm thinking about getting out."

Lee tamped down the surge of jealousy. He knew this was about Anders. Kara wouldn’t have thought about it otherwise. "Alright. Pros and cons." Kara grinned suddenly and brightly. "What?"

She shook her head, big smile still plastered on her face "It's just—I missed you. Pros and cons," Kara parroted obediently. "Cons—no more flying and I’d have to find a real job. Pros, I'd have my own space, get to drink for free every night at my favorite bar, and be with the people I care about." She froze, but Lee didn’t so much as twitch so she relaxed again.

"Cons," Lee contributed, leaning against a wall and folding his arms. "Loss of the best full coverage medical care around and a clear career path. Pros—You'll have time to join The Balls' club pyramid team and clean that pig sty of an apartment for once."

Kara countered, "Pro—I can stick around to make sure your life doesn't get too boring.”

Lee smiled. "Pro—You'll be close enough for me to keep you out of trouble." He took a deep breath, "and you'll be near Anders."

"Lee—" Kara started.

"Here's my suggestion, Kara," Lee interrupted. "Zak's getting restless and wants to expand. He has his eye on a really casual bar near base. We're well in the black so I don’t see why not. Helo wants to spend more time with Sharon and the baby. I'm here sporadically. So if you want to get out, we can bring you on as the night manager and Helo can switch to days, deal with deliveries and unruly happy hour goers. Zak'll be busy at the new place and we'll all bounce around as needed to keep our heads above water. In the meantime, join the reserves, they'll fly you enough to keep your quals current and will recall you if there's real action so you won’t miss anything fun."

Lee squirmed a little under Kara's scrutiny. He had forgotten how hard she could look at him sometimes. He was out of practice. "Got it all figured out, don't you Lee?" she asked, tone neutral.

"No," Lee said, "It's just the first thing that came to mind. Seems to split the difference, combine the most pros on the list."

Kara was suddenly right in front of him, both hands on his shoulders. "I knew there was a reason to keep you around," she said. The words were flippant, but her tone was serious. "Thank you."

"Well, to be fair, I have to talk to Zak and Helo first-"

"Thank you," Kara interrupted firmly. "I don’t say it often so take it where you can get it."

"You're welcome," Lee said, raising his hands to cover hers.   


* * *

"I told you last week that I had to work."

Lee was trying really, really hard not to listen in. He and Kara were on their own at The Ball tonight, relatively speaking, of course. The usual flock of servers and bartenders were around, but Lee still felt a little lost at the club without Zak, and Zak needed to be at their new place, Husker's. Kara had her cell phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear and was all quick hands and efficient movements as she poured drinks, motioning Lee to dole them out.

"Well what _did_ you expect would happen, Sammy?" She came to a complete stop. "What?" he was not listening, not hearing her sharp tone. "Did you just give me a frakking ultimatum over the phone?" Lee started listening. He may not have liked the idea of Sam in Kara's bed, he might hate the way Sam put his hand on the small of her back like he had a right to her, but Lee was now concerned for Sam's safety. "We will talk about this tomorrow," Kara said in a low, dangerous voice and she hung up.

"Are you. . ." Lee trailed off. He and Kara had come a long way, but Sam was still a difficult topic between them.

"Fine," she bit off.

"Head's up," Lee warned and tossed her a bottle of water. Kara caught it and smiled her thanks, although the anger was still in her eyes. "If—"

"No."

"Okay."   


* * *

Kara welcomed the rage as she drove her truck recklessly to Sam's place. He had some nerve…. It actually excited her a bit, ramped up her feelings, gave edge to a relationship that was all easy curves. She fumed in the elevator up to the penthouse and stormed in without knocking. "Sam!" she shouted.

"Right here, Kara." For once, Sam was not smiling. His eyes were hard and his arms were folded. Kara's lips curved in a cruel smile. This she could work with. This was good.

"Got a problem, Sam?" she asked, strutting into his personal space. He didn’t back down.

"Yeah, I do," he said. "When you said that you were getting out of the military, I thought it was for me."

Kara blinked. "You think that I'd make a decision like that based on a relationship that was, at the time, less than half a year old?"

"Stupid of me to think that my girlfriend would want to stay with me, I realize that now."

Kara rolled her eyes. "Spare me. You know you were part of the decision. That was months ago, why the sudden attitude problem?"

"I see you less now then when you were in the fleet!" he shouted, frustrated, running his hands through his hair.

"Well you really would have seen me less if I had been stationed on a battlestar," Kara said in exasperation. "What the hell is your problem, Sam? Why the sudden concern? Why the demand to find another job?"

"I'm tired of you not being able to go places with me at night like we used to," Sam said.

"I am a night manager," Kara said slowly. "Night. That's when I work. It isn’t like you aren't welcome to come to the club."

"Kara," Sam said, suddenly right in front of her and holding her hands. "Kara, you don’t need to work. You could live with me. Marry me. You could fly all frakking day if you wanted to."

Kara stepped back and deliberately pulled her hands from Sam's. "Did you just propose to me in order to get me to quit my job?" The anger wasn't fun anymore. It was real.

"Of course not," Sam backpedaled. "I proposed because I love you."

"Uh huh," Kara said, jaw set and eyes hard, "And if I said yes but still wanted to work at The Ball?"

"You wouldn't have to—"

"But I _want_ to!" Kara shouted. "What do you want, Sammy, because I'm thinking that we're on very different pages."

Sam growled his frustration. "I want you to want to be with me, not to spend every frakking minute of every frakking day in a bar with your buddies, is that too much to ask?"

Kara felt the fight coiled up in her fizzle. "No," she said. "No, it isn't." Sam smiled and moved towards her with his arms outstretched. Her beautiful beginning. Her blank slate, still without a mark on him. "But I can't give it to you." Her heart sank as his smile faded. "I don't want to hurt you, Sam, but I'm not the person you want me to be."

"I don’t want you to be anyone but yourself," Sam pleaded.

Kara reached out and touched his cheek. "That's because you don’t really know who that is."

Sam grabbed her hand. "You never told me. Not about the scars or your past or anything," he said, betrayal in his voice.

Kara shook her head and pulled her fingers away. "You never asked."   


* * *

It was a Saturday afternoon and Kara was sitting on the floor with her back propped up against the sofa, watching a movie on Lee's enormous television. It had become something of a ritual in the last month, ever since Kara had flatly told Lee that she and Sam were over.

"That would _so_ not happen," Lee's lazy voice washed over her and she twisted her neck to see him sprawled on the couch behind her.

"This is why I shouldn't watch movies with you," she said, throwing a handful of popcorn at him.

Lee looked over. "It's completely ridiculous," he insisted.

"I got it, Lee."

"She can't just—" Lee raised an eyebrow at Kara's hand suddenly clamped over his mouth.

"Shut up," Kara admonished. "I know that witnesses aren’t really allowed to make speeches, but it's a good one." She leaned in closer, enjoying the way his eyes darkened in response. "It's all about democracy and civilization and stuff. You know you get off on that, so I'm going to back it up and you are going to listen and not ruin it for me by talking through it. Yes?" She felt him smile against her palm. "Good boy," she said, dropping a kiss on his forehead and removing her hand. She settled back down and rewound to the beginning of the scene.

Lee rolled over to his side and shuffled down the couch. He propped his head up on one arm, and wrapped his other arm around her, forearm firm across her upper chest, hand holding her shoulder. She could feel her hair catching in the stubble of his chin and suddenly Kara wasn't paying attention to the movie anymore. She felt his breath rushing against her cheek and she leaned her head back so that it would move with the rise and fall of his chest. Her heart was in her throat and she sat very still.

"That night, on the balcony," Lee's voice was soft in her ear. "I—I just didn’t know that it was possible to be that happy. I never thought that someone like you would want someone so predictable and dull. And then it turned out that you didn't." Kara tried to turn around, but Lee held her firmly. "That was my fault, Kara. I never told you how I felt. Never asked you out or did anything to let you know how much you mean to me. And then I made the biggest mistake of all, letting you walk out of my life." He nuzzled her ear. "So what I'm getting at is that in about fifteen seconds I am going to tell you that I love you and if you don’t say it back, we are going to sit here and finish our movie and then grab dinner on the way to work and we will be fine."

Kara's breath caught in her throat, and in the pause between one heartbeat and the next she turned her head, locked eyes with her best friend, leaned forward and sucked his bottom lip into her mouth.

Lee made a muffled, desperate sound deep in his throat and his arm tightened against her chest, fingers flexing on her shoulder as his other hand tangled in her hair. Kara ran the tip of her tongue along his bottom lip, pausing to nip it and tug gently with her teeth. His mouth opened obediently and she slid her tongue inside, sighing at the way they locked together. She dragged her nails up and down the nape of his neck, smiling when she provoked a full body shiver.

He pulled back, pausing to flick her top lip with his tongue before sliding his raspy cheek down hers to press open mouthed kisses along her collar bone. "Lee?" Kara breathed.

"Yeah?" he whispered back.

"You were saying?" Kara licked the shell of his ear.

"I was saying?" Lee's hand had drifted from her shoulder and was now cupping her breast. He ran a thumb teasingly across her nipple.

"Your fifteen seconds are up, Adama." Kara tried to sound stern, but her head dropped back and she arched more fully into his hand.

"Oh, _that_ ," Lee said. He dropped a gentle kiss in the hollow of her throat and moved his hand back up to clasp her shoulder firmly. "I love you Kara Thrace," he said directly into her ear.

Kara closed her eyes and smiled. "I love you too."


End file.
